Café Racer 15™ features aromas of bright citrus and resinous pine from the generous use of Citra, Amarillo, Cascade and Chinook hops which are complimented by a dry malt finish. The result is a high revving Double IPA that is loud and assertive, much like the rebellious street racers who inspired it. Never ride alone...

Reviews by mttaylor1066:

Poured for me at Meadhall in Boston (great place, btw.) The color is a hazy gold, classic for the imperial ale style. Quite a bit of lacing left by the lingering head.

The nose is resiny hops that shows a proper amount of restraint. You know you're getting an IPA before the liquid hits the tongue,

The mouthfeel and taste remind me of a Bell's Two Hearted. The brewer struck a nice balance here and doesn't take the drinker over the edge of hoppy bitterness. I could have two of these, easily. Well, two if I didn't have to stand up or drive. The alcohol is strong in this.

More User Reviews:

The beer pours a light golden amber color with good head retention and lacing. The nose is all west coast hoppy goodness, showcasing considerable orange citrus and pine, but with little malty sweetness. Consequently, I was a bit surprised by what I tasted, as this beer had a considerable sweet malt base, along with the considerable hoppy bitterness. It's still a fine tasting beer, but I found the alcohol to be a bit more prominent than I expected. Mouthfeel was otherwise medium bodied, with a long, bitter, alcoholic finish.

A nice enough beer, and I'm wondering if freshness might have been something of a problem here. I think the beer had been on tap for a while at the MP, and that may have contributed to the excessive sweet malt and noticeable alcohol. Still a nice beer, and one I hope to try again from a fresher keg.

Edit from 2/4/13. Happened to be in Healdsburg on Saturday, and so got my wish to sample a fresher version of this beer. The difference was dramatic. At the brewpub, this beer has a wonderful nose of tropical fruit, pine and dry citrus. This smells like a hophead's dream, and the flavor profile didn't disappoint. It replicates the nose, but the mouthfeel is fairly light and lean for such a big beer, but I think that works well in this DIPA. Otherwise, the moderate sweetness in the mid palate is gently pushed aside, leading to a long, bitter, hop infused finish. Alcohol is well integrated into the flavor profile, with no noticeable heat on the finish. Just delicious. Still would have preferred the Racer X (which they were out of), but this wasn't a bad substitute.

Upon seeing that Bear Republic was brewing this way back when I was super excited because I'm a big fan of Racer 5 and DIPA's, so when I saw it, I had to give it a shot.Poured into a Deschutes snifter it was a nice dark golden orangeish color with a few fingers of fluffy foamy head which dissipated somewhat slowly.

I got some good fruity notes in the nose, but not quite was I was expecting/hoping for. Same thing with the hops...wasn't as bold as I had hoped for. Both were there and good, just not the big Cali hop/fruity bombs ive been digging as of late.

Having said that, it was enjoyable and the fact that it didn't at all seem like it was 9.75% made it go down nice and easy. Maybe too easy. Were it not for the fact that I've been full-on in RuinTen and Hoptimum mode the past few months I think I would have loved this but as it is, it's a good stab at a DIPA from Bear Republic.

Racer 5 is on the beefier end of the IPA spectrum and in comparison, this isn't much harder to drink while sneaking a few more abv points in there. Would definitely order up a glass if I saw it on draft somewhere.

Carefully poured from the bottle-conditioned bomber. Golden-orange with an incredibly creamy two-finger head and never-ending lace. Fruity, floral, and herbal in the nose with some alcohol in the back. Firm, smooth body, creamy, with a slight carbonation bite. Sweet malty base that's countered by a big, sticky, oily, and resinous hop presence with pine, a citric hop bite, oranges, tropical fruits, and grapefruit. Lots of juicy goodness, with soft floral and herbal notes in the linger and warming alcohol on the breath. Finishes a bit gritty, tannic, and dry.

Appearance - one an a half fingers of head on top of the golden opaque beer.

Smell - this just kills me. I hope I don't look stupid smelling so many times this beer. Not the best smelling beer but certainly on my top 5. Citrus, floral, guava, grapefruit and passion fruit all in there product of the intense hopping this beer has undergone. This beer will have you smelling it for as long as you have it on your glass.

Taste - well the hops punch you from the tip of the tongue to the back. It's the idea of a Double IPA but I've tasted others which do a better job balancing the bitterness including their own Double Red Rocket. Anyway it's really good tasting with a lot of the flavor coming from the hops, meaning tropical fruits and sour gummies.

Mouthfeel - this one has a huge body. Very thick but well carbonated and extremely enjoyable to drink.

Overall - a very good Imperial/Double IPA but certainly not the best. It would certainly appeal even to the most demanding hopheads but this style of beer can also be appealing to other kinds of beer drinkers as some I-IPAs do.